¿Quien llora a las mujeres invisibles? / Who Mourns The Invisible Women?

Author

Sindy A. Nanclares, Craig Newmark Graduate School of JournalismFollow
Sofía Cerda Campero, Craig Newmark Graduate SchoolFollow

Graduation Date

Fall 12-14-2018

Grading Professor

Yoruba Richen

Subject Concentration

Spanish Language

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

The average age of death for a transgender woman is 35 years old. Transgender women of color make up 82 percent of the victims of hate crimes and violent deaths in the United States.

This project explores the way in which transgender women have turned their pain and fear into a movement they hope will save their lives. The investigative story and short documentary offer a glimpse to Liaam Winslet, a 30-year-old activist from Ecuador who lives in New York. She examines the cultural disenfranchisement that propels violence against trans women in Latin America. Liaam walks the audience through struggles of being a transgender Latina in the U.S and how they persevere in spite of the challenges.

Liaam started as an an activist when she was 12 years old, working with transgender youth in Guayaquil, Ecuador. After experiencing violence and aggressions, she moved to New York at age 23 to start her gender transition. The lack of resources and family support pushed her to do sex work on Roosevelt Avenue, Queens, for her first two years in the city. She found strength in her anger towards the inequality her community faced. Now, Liaam, with confidence in her gender identity, understands that if she wants to live and die with dignity, she will have to fight for it with her sisters.

Liaam embodies the translatina movement. In the intimacy of her interactions, she introduces multiple characters that portray complex struggles unique to the translatina experience. Each one of these characters will open a window to an issue. For some, it is the drug addictions, for others, it is the fight against HIV. For all of them, it’s their dreams and hopes that shine through as they fight to live with dignity.

This is not a story of transwomen as victims. This is a story of translatinas as survivors.

Recommended Citation

Nanclares, Sindy A. and Cerda Campero, Sofía, "¿Quien llora a las mujeres invisibles? / Who Mourns The Invisible Women?" (2018). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/301